Hotel Sterling

Hotel Sterling is a closed hotel in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, at the intersection of River Street and Market Street. It was opened in 1898 by local business persons, who then owned a music hall located at the site, and was named after Emma E. Sterling, whose late husband, Walter G. Sterling, a local banker and businessman, owned a share of the music hall. Emma was a driving force behind the building of the hotel. The hotel was later expanded by Andrew Sordoni by connecting it to the Plaza Hotel in 1936. After lying abandoned for years, the non-profit organization CityVest purchased the hotel and demolished the 14-story Plaza tower portion and four-story connecting building in 2007 in an attempt to make the property more marketable to developers. At present, CityVest is indicating that it also wishes to demolish the Hotel Sterling's original building.